


Show Me How To Say Yes To This

by MarlaHectic



Category: High School Musical (Movies)
Genre: Bisexual Male Character, Coming Out, Family Fluff, Gay Male Character, Happy Ending, LGTBphobia, M/M, Musical References, Post-Canon, Reunions, Taylor is smart as hell, bcs I am trash, in the closet, lesphobic slur
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:54:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25339432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarlaHectic/pseuds/MarlaHectic
Summary: This is a totally canon story of how two people in love find each other after they (are freed from Disney’s censorship) grow up.In other words, a very needed (for myself, basically) fic of that HSM couple we all know was canon and of which we were robbed.(Ey, this summary is only half-shitty, yaih!)
Relationships: Chad Danforth/Ryan Evans
Comments: 12
Kudos: 116





	1. Throwing Away Your Shot

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! My kid/teen version that had to verbally proclaim herself not a fan of everything that was popular among girls my age probably would murder me for having written a HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL FANFIC. But, ey, I got Disney+ (now, you can guess why all the titles are Hamilton references –ok, who am I kidding? Me making musical references is Marla 101), I rewatched the movies and this needed to be written (HOW CAN THE THIRD HAVE SUCH GREAT MUSICAL NUMBERS –except for a couple or so of way WAY too cheesy ballads- AND BEING SO ALL OVER THE PLACE IN EVERY OTHER ASPECT –except Troy’s doubts about his future…now that time has passed and I’ve (still sometimes think I am) there...I can feel you, bro-).  
> But now, I am almost 22 and have evolved beyond thinking being cool consisting on having very “refined” tastes. Gosh, I was sooo idiotic (I think not even my parents knew I have seen all the movies, AND I FREAKING LIVE WITH THEM).   
> So, to sum up, I felt like writing this, that turned out WAY LONGER than expected based on a tweet I posted myself where I said that, for me, Chad and Ryan now are living happily married after having adopted a dog, a cat and a kid.   
> TW: LGTBphobic speech of some “grown up” characters, including a lesphobic slur (yeah, the D word)  
> Anywho, I hope you forgive all my non-native and quick tipper mistakes and that you ENJOY this as much as I enjoyed writing it,  
> Allons-y!  
> Marla

“What the heck just happened?”  
The baseball game had been, by far, the weirdest experience in Chad’s life; and he had always been one for having bizarre anecdotes to tell his friends with an almost never-ending frequency.  
They were…well, playing baseball but…also singing and…did he and Ryan…did they actually end up curled on the field when it finished?  
It was like a dream. A dream he had, obviously, never had; nope, never in his entire life.   
He kept rolling the whole scene in his mind while he and the other boys showered; being so grateful the bathrooms were made for rich folks, so they had a bit of intimacy. There were…certain parts of his anatomy he wasn’t in control at the moment.  
He exited the individual shower, carefully drying all his curls, when he heightened his head…and there he was, only wearing a robe, blonde wet hair stuck to his head.   
And he was smiling, but not smiling as if he was just smiling, he smiled directly to HIM.  
“So…you can actually dance.”  
“Yeah, and you play baseball. Cool, man. Um…gotta go.” He picked up what he thought were his clothes and rushed out of the place still only wearing a towel.  
Funny thing, they weren’t his.   
\-----  
Ryan found Chad under a most likely to be fake tree of the golf court, wearing his clothes and staring at the horizon.  
“I must say, you have pretty good taste on clothing.” He sat next to him. He had put on the other boy’s clothes. After all, it wasn’t as if he had his own there.  
Chad seemed struggling to speak, taking it more than five minutes until he could articulate a coherent sentence.  
“Can you…is it normal…? Oh, screw it, would you hate me if I said I think I could, might, actually have crush on you?” Ryan busted into laughter.  
“Wasn’t I obvious enough? And I am not talking about right now, I am talking about…last two years? Honestly, the only reason I didn’t say anything was that I wasn’t sure if you swinged both sides…”  
“Wait, you can actually do that? Like, being bothsexual?” He seemed relieved.  
“The term is bisexual but, yeah, you can. I mean, Kelsie is and she was pretty much a real person last time I checked…but, the thing, have you just said that you have a crush on me?” He titled his head, it was comical, funnier than it should be. The basketball player didn’t know if it was because of his acting skills or just because, well, he was Ryan.   
He nodded, smiling a bit.  
“And does Taylor know?”  
“No…I…she’s great and all and I also like her that way but…less. I know it’s not fair, and that I’m a shitty boyfriend for not telling but…I was scared, I AM scared.”  
“I get it. I haven’t told anyone I like boys…not even Sharpay…not that she would listen.” He scoffed and went silent with a sad frown.   
The other boy felt immediately frustrated by how blue he had become in an instant. He hated not being able to help.  
“Ey, at least, we had admitted it to each other. Maybe, we feel brave enough to tell the others. After all, I am staring a musical show, admitting having a crush on a boy won’t be that bad, will it?”  
“Ouch, harmful stereotypes. Plus, look at your friend Troy; I haven’t seen that level of dull heterosexuality in my whole life and he is naturally talented for the stage.”  
Both laughed a bit.  
“Yeah, I guess you are right.”  
Silence took over again for few minutes, though now it felt just natural…fine. Then, Ryan spoke again.  
“And…about that crush, what are you going to do about him?”  
“Could I kiss him?”  
“You definitively should.”  
When their lips met, it was like their very first kiss, even though it wasn’t for neither of them, feeling everlasting…  
…until it stopped due to external forces.   
“I called it.” Taylor’s voice made them get away from each other. Before they could say I thing, she continued. “Don’t worry, Chad. A girl knows these things, I was just enjoying you while it lasted.”  
“I told her she was being cruel, but she wouldn’t listen.” Gabriella added, next to her friend.   
“I wasn’t being cruel, just practical; you can only be a teenager with a sporty boyfriend once! But don’t mind us, go back to what you were doing.”  
So there they went, kissing and getting close enough to make the other two girls turned their heads to give them more intimacy, a bit uncomfortable.  
Summer had just gotten a lot better.

By the last week of August, they did much more than just kiss under an abandoned wanna-be tree. When they weren’t together, they were almost certainly thinking about each other.  
They discovered they shared more interests and views on different matters they could have ever thought; they also taught each other new things, and argue about those they didn’t agree with.  
Plus…the physical part. The kissing, the hand-holding and the next level stuff…Chad had always been kind of scared about how his First Time was going to be but, now that it had gone and passed, he saw there was nothing to be worried about.  
Only downfall of having sex with Ryan? None of their parents knew, so they actually had to act like spies from a low-rate movie or asked friends for hiding spot aka parent-free houses. Chaperoning situations were also involved sometimes, getting almost comical results plenty of times.  
It wasn’t an ideal situation, but it had to do…unless they came out to their parents, that would be. The idea had crossed both their minds, though none of them had spoken out loud.  
Until that Sunday, when they sad, sweaty, next to each other after the first one-against-one basketball game that Chad had ever lost (Troy didn’t count).   
“Remember me, why did I taught you how to properly play basketball?”  
“Romantic gesture? Exchange for me teaching you how to belt?”  
“The thing were I sound SO good?”  
“Yeah…I sounded better, though.”  
“The Evans modesty gene attacks again!” His boyfriend punched him in the arm at the comment and they both laughed, falling into one of those fulfilling silent moments you only have with those you truly love.  
“Ey, I am going with my parents and sister to London until the beginning of next year…I got tickets for…”  
“Grease and Hairspray. And you are sooo sorry Parade closed before you could go. You’ve told me a trizillion times. What’s your point?”  
“I am gonna tell them, that I’m gay. It’s about time, don’t you think? To grow up and face the music.”  
“Are you quoting another musical?”  
“That’s a question with no answer. But I am not telling you to do the same, just…I wanted you to know.”  
“I am doing the same. I mean, I’m bi not gay but…you get it. I promise, next year, no hiding.”  
“It’s a promise.”  
“A deal.”  
\-----  
Chad was sitting on the cupboard of his kitchen. He knew both his parents will be arriving any time soon and he just wanted to say the words as quickly as possible, he needed that weight out of his chest.  
He felt his hands shaking. He thought about going to get the basketball from his bedroom, but he didn’t trust himself enough not to bounce it too much and break some glasses, so he started playing with some wooden cutlery instead.  
“Your cousin Nico had just come out, honey.”   
Chad’s mom had usually a very bright smile, but compared to how he saw the one she was ‘wearing’ that day, they would all seem dull.   
“So…you ok with that?”  
His father, entering the kitchen almost as if it was a pre-staged scene (definitively, he had spent too much time with Ryan –and the rest of the theatre nerds- that summer), nodded in agreement.  
“He is still the same…how do you call this days? ‘EMO’ kid. As long as he has his mind clear about what he likes…”  
Those words awaken a new fear on him. However, he didn’t want to jump to conclusions too early.  
“What do you mean with that?”  
His father made a weird face gesture, emphasized with a hand movement.  
“You know, those kids that say they like both…that is just vice.”  
The teenager almost choked; he tried to find a solution, feeling almost as overdramatic as Troy seemed to feel every time he was on a crossroad since they were six.   
What to do?  
He pictured Ryan’s smile in his head, was he really going to give that up? He could always lie and say he was just gay, but that felt even more wrong than saying nothing…  
…his moment of bravery passed. The part of every teenager that was still a scared little kid took control and he was tragically conscious that he was not going to say anything.  
He rushed to the bathroom, seconds from flooding his eyes with tears.  
\-----  
The London trip?   
Amazing. As always when they were alone, Sharpay was still bossy but in a manageable just-in-character way that he actually almost thanked as it prevent him for having to take too many decisions; plus, he had missed her in this way…before the trip she had become even more sel-involved than usual (however, he didn’t fool himself: he knew she would went back to not-normal the moment they landed in the USA again). His mother was the abslute best and made up for the permanent absently of his father around him, nothing new there. And London…GOD, who could he love a city so much?  
Actually, there was only one thing he could think about he loved more than London…he blushed, remembering the teen basketball player he had waiting for him, back in New Mexico.   
But then, as it seems to happen almost every time when things go too well, something happened.  
Something that was going to give him nightmares until the end of his life.

There were just having lunch at a Soho Chinese restaurant, both his sister and mother complaining about the lack of class of the place when a young couple –a black woman and her smiling blonde girlfriend- sat next to them and, after ordering their food, started kissing.  
A small smile starting to take shape in his lips thinking about how they looked just like a female version of Chad and him…  
…until his father spoke. Well, spoke was an understatement; he got up, went to the women’s desk and not very politely told them to leave.  
When he came back to their desk, he only had a comment to do before acting as if nothing had happened.  
“Those dikes…at least, they weren’t men.”  
\-----  
Last year of high school started. And without even noticing it, both boys were facing the same dilemma.  
Continuing with a hidden relationship was not an option, coming out to their parents was out of the picture too and admitting their failure…they didn’t have the strength to do that. After all, they were only a couple of teenagers having to choose between the comfort of what they had always called home and going into the unknown.  
They exchanged a single look the first day of classes and they knew.  
Things were back to the Status Quo.


	2. THE STORY OF THAT NIGHT

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WHAT TIME IS IT?! *ensemble shouting* REUNION TIME!  
> Years after finishing high-school, our pair of idiots in love of the day remeet...let's see how it goes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, THANKS A LOT FOR THE COMMENTS IN CHAPTER ONE, I DON’T HAVE ENOUGH WRODS IN SPANISH NOR ENGLISH (nor German or French) DICTIONARIES TO THANK YOU ENOUGH FOR WHAT THEY MET FOR ME.  
> This being said…the conclusion is on! This is mostly fluff and cuteness and your usual reunion fic…partly set in the Hamilton set because, again, Disney+ binge watch.   
> I hope it’s not too cheesy and that you are able to forgive my quick tipper and non-native speaker mistakes.  
> Allons-y!  
> Marla

Ryan could have dance of happiness (actually, he did).  
He had gotten the part. He just couldn’t believe it. And not only that, he was going to be King George’s understudy and had been told by the choreographer that his help might be welcome in the dancing department…could things get any better?

He arrived to his first day at his new dreamed job with a smile on his face when a girl from the ensemble –Ariana, he recalled- approached him.  
“Hi, you are Samuel Seabury, aren’t you?”  
“Well, I am Ryan but, yeah, sure...why?”  
She smirked, as if she had some kind of scheme going on.  
“Um…nothing special just…there is this guy from the ensemble, he’s also from Albuquerque and I thought ‘Ey, was if Seabury and him know each other? Maybe they haven’t spoken because they didn’t know…’”  
He froze, could it be…?  
No, impossible, ridiculous.  
“Ahem…thank you.”  
Her smiled turned a bit mischievous.  
“You are very welcome.”

It was actually him.  
“What…what are you doing here?” The other man –because now they were men, not boys- turned, frowned with surprise at his sight and tentatively smiled.  
“Dancing, apparently. Bet you’re pleased to know you were right.” He sighed. “I was in a NBA team (yeah, with Albuquerque college I also got there), everyone thought I was going to be the new star…so I decided to come out, on a live interview. About time, don’t you think?” He lowered his face, while chuckling sadly. “Terrible idea, they made it IMPOSSIBLE for me to play…they even boycotted my trainings! I got pissed and asked what was all about and, well, they told me I shouldn’t have said openly what I said because I was setting a bad example for the kids…good thing I kept going to dance school since I left home.” He made a pause, waiting for any kind of astonishment that didn’t come. “You don’t seem surprise.”  
Because he wasn’t. All those years, he had kept in touch with Kelsi, who had done the same thing with Gabriella and Troy, still great friends with the man in front of him and he might (and only might) shown more interest than expected on Chad’s life.  
However, he couldn’t say this out loud; it might sound…well, as stalky as it was.  
“I…I am just too shocked to show it. What are the odds…? I also came out, last day of a show I was doing while I was still in Julliard…my parents haven’t spoken to me since. Good thing Shar doesn’t know how to shut up most times, so I still have family that speaks to me.” He laughed. “She came out six months later, I would have PAYED to watch my father’s face when he found out how ‘badly’ he had raised his children.”  
His former classmate reaction to his tale was, at best, surprising. He broke into laughter.  
“Ok, now I get it. That was why you weren’t surprised; you did the same I did…You asked about me!”  
“I guessed…you were my first…” He started humming ‘Summer Loving’ from Grease and, this time, both laughed. “Ey, I…you…we were both scared kids, we had grown, changed but…would you like go and play basketball after rehearsal?”  
“Wait, is Ryan Evans asking me to go play basketball willingly? I can’t say no to that kind of miracle.”  
And, like this, a friendship was reborn.   
\-----  
Being just friends lasted them less than a month. They met these adult versions of the other one to find out that they were just as compatible as the teenage ones were.  
And, a certain day of June 2016, without even speaking to one another, they realized. This wasn’t a summer crush anymore.  
It had happened in the play’s intermission. They were both in the backstage, resting and pretending not to be freaking out since they had been told that day’s performance was being recorded for prosperity.  
Ryan acted first, turned into the other man’s face and pressed his lips to his.  
Chad gave the perfect second act to their affectionate gesture, separating afterwards with an interrogating look, though he imagined what was about to happen.  
“I want it all with you. I want the shared flat, the kid, the dog AND the cat. I want more kisses and all of the other…” He grinned. “…stuff whenever I want...Would you marry me?”  
“You can be as bossy as your sister…YES.”  
They kissed a third time, now covered by most cast and crew, clapping at them and exchanging money (they would have probably betted who was going to propose first).   
This was a night they will always remember.  
\-----  
3rd July 2020, a blond man with a five year old and their elegant black cat sat in front of their TV.  
The kid groaned and his father perfectly organized his hair, annoying the little boy. They had finally managed to adopt their son –named, ironically as it could be, George- two years ago, being him already three.   
At the beginning, he hadn’t spoken a word –apparently, he came from a pretty terrible home-, but within a few months he started acting as if he had been with the two men since birth; thing that warmed both their hearts.   
“Why do we have to wait for daddy? He was THERE.” He complained while he played with a baseball ball he seemed to be as attached to as Chad had been with his basketball one as a teen.  
Ryan was about to answer when the door opened, showing a man wearing a face-mask and his puppy (who run to the front of the TV and curled up there in an instant).  
“Chad! A green face-mask with a blue T-shirt?! Are you serious?!” His husband gave him a look that clearly meant ‘Are YOU serious?”, cleaned his hands and took oof the said mask.   
Without another word, he sat in the couch, kissed the other man with a ‘gross’ comment from George.   
“So…we are watching it.”  
“Yes, but George is leaving after intermission.”  
“Of course he is.”  
“But the number dad helped with the dancing was in the second act!”  
“Yes, and you are specially NOT WATCHING THAT ONE.”  
He tried to protest a bit more, but they shushed him as the Disney’s castle appeared with Hamilton music in the background.   
This was all they could have asked for, you could bet on it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I just have Ryan choreographing ‘Say No To This’? Yeah, maybe, YES…also a bit of Jefferson’s part, probably (but that is not the above PG part you don’t want a kid to watch…)… Oh, and I made him be casted there because it was actually one of the actors that appear in “Stick to the Status Quo” the one that played Seabury in the OBC so…I just changed the HSM actor.   
> Anyways, enough with me being a theatre nerd. Did you guys like my slightly (or maybe not slightly) cheesy ending?  
> Again, thanks A LOT for the comments in chapter one and, again, all feedback, random comments and kudos are more than appreciated.  
> Also, if anyone wants to read anything else about these two...feel free to ask and, if inspiration hits, it'll be my pleasure.  
> Long life and prosperity,  
> Marla

**Author's Note:**

> Gosh, I got intense.  
> Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this first chapter, second arriving soon, I promise (just have to revise it)…and happy ending, I swear.  
> Yeah, I let my musical nerd side got loose and included totally free Falsettos, Crazy Exgirlfriend and (slight) Frozen reference. Plus…I actually looked up what shows were in London what summer and when I saw Hairspray…THE META WAS NEEDED (and the thing about wanting to watch Parade? It’s one of my to-do in my watch list).  
> So, as always, all feedback, random comment and/or kudos are so so sooooo welcome,  
> Long live and prosperity,  
> Marla


End file.
